Railway-crossing.



R.'G. COATES.

Batented Lily-17, 1917 2 SHYEEITS-SHEET 1.

R1 6. COATES. RMLWAY caossme.

APPLlCATlON FILED, MAY 31, 1916- I Patented 11113717, 191(.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

BAY G. COATES, 0F FASADENA, CALIFORNIA.

RAILlVAY-GROSSING.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 117, 1917..

Application filed May 31, 1916. Serial No. 100,855.

1 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, Bar G. Con'rns, a cititer of maximum simplicity of construction and smoothness of operation and one which will not be apt to get out of order in operation. I

' This device is so constructed that the shiftable members at the four corners of the crossing are entirely independent of' one another and are each composed of but a single element, the. wheel passing in either direction over one pair of rails wedging the shiftable members to move bridge bloclrs'in bridging position in the gaps of said rails, and the wheel passing in either direction over the intersecting pair of rails wedging the shiftable members to move bridge blocks in bridging position. in the gaps of said intersecting pair of rails. Thus it is seen that each of the shiftable members is'provided with four faces adapted to be engaged by the wheels of the rolling stock, one face for each of four directions of travel of the wheels.

"(lther objects and advantages may appear in the s'ubjoined detail description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1v is a plan view of a crossing embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on line indicated by w 00 Fig. 1. k

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the shiftable members in Fig. 1. p

Fig. 4: is a fragmental perspective View of one corner of the crossing showninFig. 1, the shiftable member being omitted for clearness of illustration.

There are provided two intersecting pair of rails 1, 2 and said pair of rails in the drawings intersect one another at right angles though it is understood that the intersecting may be at other angles, than a right angle.

The rails 1, 2 are mounted on a suitable bed plate 3 and may be integral with said bed plate, or, as shown in the drawings, may be formed of a number of separate members fastened thereto by bolts 1- or equivalent.

The portions of the intersecting rails 1, 2 extending outward from each rail intersection may be in the form of angular members 5 as shown in the drawings and the intermediate portions 6 of the rails extending from one angular member 5 to another may be spaced apart from said angular members to form crossing slots or gaps 7 to allow for passage of the flanges of the wheels of the rolling stock.

The bed plate 3 is provided at its center with a pivot support 8 having pivots 9 constructed of bolts or the like, said pivots passing through the inner ends of arms 10 of shiftable members indicated in general by the character 11. Each shiftable member 11 is constructed as follows: The outer end of the arm 10 is provided adjacent the inner side of the intermediate members 6 with inner curved cam faces 12, 13 one on each side of the longitudinal axis of the shiftable member, either of said cam faces being spaced apart from the adjacent member 6 suiiiciently to accommodate a wheel flange. when the arm 10 is in such position that the other cam face is substantially against the adjacent member 6.

The arm 10 is slotted at 14; to form flange ways for the wheels of the rolling stock and said arm terminates in bridge blocks 15, 16 one on each side of the longitudinal axis of the shiftable member, said bridge blocks having outwardly spreading curved cam faces 17, 18. The bridge blocks 15, Miami cam faces 17 18 are so constructed relative to the cam faces 12, 13 that when either of said cam faces 12, 13 is spaced apart from its adjacent crossing member 6 one of said bridge blocks will close one of the gaps 7 and the other bridge block will be spaced apart from the angular member 5, and the cam face 17 or 18, as the case may be, will be in close proximity to the other rail.

The cam faces 13, 17 are in alinement with one another and the cam faces 12, 18 are in alinement with one another and all of said cam faces together form an X-shaped member provided at its middle with the flange way 14:. The cam faces 12, 13, 17 18 are preferably beveled at their upper edges.

as shown in the drawings. This is of advantage to insure against climbing of the provided with a spring 21 fastened at one end to the under side of said arm and fas- 'tened at its other end to the base plate so as to tend to hold theshiftable member of which the arm is a part in either of its extreme positions according to whether the bridge block or 16 is in the bridging po- 7 I sition.

-Erom the foregoing it is seen that each shiftable member is independent of the other shiftable members and that the bridge block at any given intersection is moved into bridging position by the wheel that is about to ride .over said bridge block.

1 In practice, assuming that the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, it is seen that the bridge blocks 15 are in position to close the gaps in the rails 1,.that the bridge blocks 16 are in position to open the gaps in the rails 2, that the cam faces 12 are spaced from the rails 1, and that the cam faces 13 are substantially in engagement with the rails 2. The parts of the crossing are now in positions to allow of the wheels of rolling stockion'the rails 1 to pass in-either direction oversaid rails. If rolling stock now comes along the rails 2, the flanges of the first wheels to approach the crossing will engage the cam faces 17 of the two shif-table men bers at one side of the crossing to wedge them away from the rails 2, thus causing thebridge blocks 15 to open the gaps in the rails 1 and causing the bridge blocks 16 to close the gaps in the-rails 2 so that the wheels can ride over the last named bridge 7 blocks toward the shiftable members at the other side of the crossing. The wheels will then engage the, cam faces 13 of said shiftable members at the other side of the crossing to cause the bridge blocks 15 to move out of bridging positioirand to cause the bridge blocks 16 to move into position to bridge the it gapsin the rails 2, so that the wheel can ride over said bridge blocks.

"It is clear that the foregoing described constructionflenables the shiftable members to be readily removed, .allthat is necessary being to first remove the pivots '9,

Owing to the unitary construction of the devices at each corner and their independent operation, the operation is more reliable than those prior devices consisting .of a

plurality of members at each corner and -interconnected so that the device at one corner will operate the device at another corner.

I claim:

1. In combination, intersecting pairs of rails provided with gaps at the intersections, and a shiftable member at each intersectioi'l, each of said shiftable members having a bridge block for each rail of a pair and having two cam faces adjacent the inner side of said rails, the cam faces adjacent one rail being spaced apart therefrom when one of said bridge blocks is in open position in the gap in the other rail, and the cam faces adjacent said other rail being in position to be tripped by wheels passing over said other rail when the other bridge block is in closed position in the gap in the first named rail.

2. In combination, intersecting pairs of rails provided with gaps at th intersections, and a shiftiible member at each intersection, said shiftable members being provided with arms pivoted along lines extending diagona lly from intersection to intersection and each of said members having a bridge block for each rail and having two cam faces ad'- jaeent the inner side of each rail .of a pair.

3. In combination, intersecting rails provided with gaps at the intersection, bridge blocks for the gaps respectively, and means projecting from one of said blocks and operative by a wheel traveling in either direction on one rail to move said block into position to open the gap in the other rail and to move the other block into position to close the gap in the first named rail, and means projecting from said other block operative by a wheel traveling in either direction on said other rail to move said other block into position to open the gap in the first named rail and to move the first named bridge block into position to close the gap in the second named rail.

4. In combination, intersecting rails provided with gaps at the intersection, two bridge blocks and four cam faces all integral with one another to form an X-shaped shiftable member, two of said .cam faces and one of the bridge blocks being spaced from one of the rails to form .a way for a wheel flange when the other bridge block is in position to close the gap in said rail and the other cam faces are in position to be engaged by a wheel passing over the other rail.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 25 day of lWay 1916.

I RAY COATES.

Witnesses:

GEORGE H nes, A. F, SQHM'IDTBAU-ER.

v .Cepies of fchis patent may be obta ned for {we cents each, by addressing the Commissioner pf Patents,

' Washing n 

